Chicago Police Face Lawsuit:
Wrongfully convicted men demand justice
By Caryl Sortwell
In 1997 Angel Rodriguez was framed for murder by Chicago Area 5 Detectives Jon Woodall and Ernest Halvorsen. He was convicted and sentenced to over 60 years in prison. After almost four years in prison for a crime that he did not commit, Rodriguez’s conviction was reversed on appeal in March of 2000 because of lack of reliable evidence.
Protesters demand an investigation of Area 5 officers
who are known
to have framed Angel Rogriguez and others.
But the two officers who framed him have still not been punished or paid any reparation to Rodriguez. So Rodriguez has filed a lawsuit against detectives Woodall, Halverson and the City of Chicago for compensation for the years he has lost and the damage to his life. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kennelly denied Woodall and Halvorsen’s motions to dismiss the case and the trial started in April. Rodriguez was released from prison due to the fact that the eyewitness who had originally identified him as the murderer recanted his story.
The witness gave a sworn affidavit stating that Area 5 Detectives Woodall and Halverson had pressured him into identifying Rodriguez. The witness stated that Woodall and Halvorson threatened to implicate him in the murder unless he pointed the finger at Rodriguez.
Woodall is now in prison on a 10-year sentence after being convicted over a year ago of framing a different individual – he was convicted of stealing cocaine, planting it on an innocent man and then falsely arresting him.
At a press conference announcing Rodriguez’s lawsuit, activists from Comite Exigimos Justicia (CEJ, the We Demand Justice Committee) and supporters spoke out about the injustice that Rodriguez and the countless other wrongfully convicted Latino and Black men face. Activists highlighted an unacceptable flaw in the Illinois criminal justice system; the fact that although Rodriguez was exonerated of the murder conviction in 2000, the conviction still remains on his record, making it hard for him to find a job. In order to clear his record, Rodriguez filed a petition for clemency 18 months ago. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has yet to grant the pardon to clear Rodriguez’s name. He isn’t the only one in this situation. Walter Godinez and Juan Johnson were also wrongfully convicted of murder by Chicago Area 5 detectives, and later exonerated in court and released from prison. Both men also still have murder convictions on their records.
Omar Saunders, one of the wrongfully convicted, and the exonerated Rosetti Four, spoke at the press conference in support of Rodriguez.
“Angel Rodriguez should have been pardoned the minute he was exonerated,” he said. This sentiment was echoed by Rodriguez’s sister, Ruth Peña, co-founder of CEJ. “It’s ridiculous that people cleared of their crimes still have to deal with the stigma of a murder conviction. Once you are cleared the legal system should be set up to automatically expunge your record.”
CEJ activists point out that, to date, Blagojevich has only pardoned individuals in cases where DNA evidence has been used to clear them. The governor has yet to rule on the clemency petitions filed by countless individuals who were sent to prison based on no physical evidence who have since been exonerated in court. Rodriguez’s lawyer, Scott Kamin, said, “There is a bias against the Latino community in terms of pardons from the governor.”
CEJ has documented over 50 cases of frame-ups by Chicago police officers working out of Area 5. All of the cases resulted in convictions of Latino men based on eyewitness testimony alone. No physical evidence was ever presented to link these men to the crimes. The vast majority of these cases involve the same Area 5 Detectives: Woodall, Paulnitsky, Halvorsen, Wojik and, the most often named, Detective Reynaldo Guevara. Area 5 is also the home of Detective Joseph Miedzianowski, Chicago’s “most corrupt cop” according to local media, who was found guilty of drug conspiracy and racketeering in spring of 2001.
–Reprinted from Fight Back newspaper